Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of SynesthesiaRevealing the neuroscience and genetics behind synesthesia—and how this multi-sensory phenomenon changed our view of the brain. A person with synesthesia might feel the flavor of food on her fingertips, sense the letter “J” as shimmering magenta or the number “5” as emerald green, hear and taste her husband’s voice as buttery golden brown. Synesthetes rarely talk about their peculiar sensory gift—believing either that everyone else senses the world exactly as they do, or that no one else does. Yet synesthesia occurs in 1 in 20 people, and is even more common among artists. One famous synesthete was novelist Vladimir Nabokov, who insisted as a toddler that the colors on his wooden alphabet blocks were “all wrong.” His mother understood exactly what he meant because she, too, had synesthesia. Nabokov's son Dmitri, who recounts this tale in the afterword to this book, is also a synesthete—further illustrating how synesthesia runs in families. Wednesday Is Indigo Blue reveals how the extraordinary multisensory phenomenon of synesthesia has changed our traditional view of the brain. Because synesthesia contradicted existing theory, researcher Richard Cytowic spent 20 years persuading colleagues that it was a real—and important—brain phenomenon rather than a mere curiosity. Today, scientists in 15 countries are exploring synesthesia and how it is changing the traditional view of how the brain works. Cytowic and neuroscientist David Eagleman argue that perception is already multisensory, though for most of us its multiple dimensions exist beyond the reach of consciousness. Reality, they point out, is more subjective than most people realize. No mere curiosity, synesthesia is a window on the mind and brain, highlighting the amazing differences in the way people see the world. |
Contents
1 | |
2 A Kaleidoscopic World | 23 |
3 Dont It Make My Brown Is Blue? | 63 |
4 See with Your Ears | 87 |
5 November Hangs above Me to the Left | 109 |
6 A Matter of Taste | 127 |
7 Auras Orgasms and Nervous Peaches | 151 |
8 Metaphor Art and Creativity | 163 |
9 Inside a Synesthetes Brain | 199 |
10 Questions Ahead | 235 |
Afterword | 249 |
Notes | 255 |
281 | |
301 | |
Other editions - View all
Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia Richard E. Cytowic,David M. Eagleman No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
activity alphabet angular gyrus appears artist auditory aura autism Baron-Cohen blue brain areas Cambridge Cognitive Cognitive Neuropsychology color synesthesia color synesthetes colored hearing common concept consciousness cortex creativity cross talk cross-modal cross-sensory Cytowic describe Eagleman eidetic images emotional example feel figure flavor fMRI form constants form of synesthesia gender genetic grapheme green hallucinations Hubbard individuals kinds of synesthesia language letters light look Marti McGurk effect meaning Messiaen metaphors Michael Watson Mnemonist multisensory Nabokov neural neuroimaging Neuroscience normal number forms number line Olivier Messiaen orange patterns perceive perception person phonemes photisms physical pitch Press Ramachandran reported response Richard Cytowic scotoma sensations sense sensory shape similar Simner sound stimuli subjects sweet synes synesthetic color synesthetic experience synesthetic taste texture thesia tion tones touch trait trigger type of synesthesia vision visual Vladimir Nabokov whereas words yellow